The government of Fiji was ousted by a military coup a few years back and there has been a significant restriction on basic human rights and freedom of speech since that time.

The SPEA is calling for prayers for the Methodist Church in Fiji, which has had its recent conference cancelled for the third consecutive year and whose leaders who have been the focus of particular harassment by the regime. Police have banned all church activities except for Sunday services. The ban includes all Church bazaars, fundraising, rallies, camping, open air meetings, and sports days.

"We pray also that the government would listen to the voices of people around the Pacific and around the World who care deeply about Fiji and who are calling for an immediate restoration of people's basic human rights, as well as a return to properly elected government," it says.

The Methodist Church in New Zealand joined with trade unions and Amnesty International at the beginning of September to protest outside the Fiji High Commission in Wellington.

President of the Methodist Church of New Zealand, Rev Desmond Cooper says: "We need to support the church in Fiji just to show the government there that they are not alone.

"Not content to confine its muscle to the field it knows best, the Fiji military has moved in on the Methodist Church, attempting to influence Church leadership decisions and interfering in the life of the Church."

Church leaders expressed deep concern about the Fiji military interference in church decisions.

"The Government should not be deciding who will lead the Church," said Rev David Bush, General Secretary of Methodist Church of New Zealand and South Pacific President of the World Methodist Council. "That role belongs to the Church alone. The Government needs to carry out its appointed role, and allow the Church to do the same."

Conflict flared when the Government demanded that Methodist Church President Ame Tugaue and General Secretary Tuikilakila Waqairatu refrain from taking part in the Conference. The pair had been charged by the Military Government in 2009 with organising an unauthorised public meeting.

Fiji Landforce Commander, Colonel Tikoitoga, stated that Tugaue and Waqairatu should have stepped down from their leadership positions until the investigations were complete.

"They refused to accept that explanation. They maintained that a person is innocent until proven guilty," Tikoitoga said.

In response, Rev Bush noted that the Government has had three years to investigate them and bring charges. "The recent events are bullying rather than the proper use of the legal system." He also noted that Church has bent over backwards to be conciliatory towards the Government, submitting its agenda for approval prior to the Conference.

"This latest move on the part of the Government represents unacceptable interference from the State in the life of the Church," he said. "It is a clear violation of the fundamental human right to religious freedom at a time when the Church has been working hard to stabilise the relationship with the Government."

Around 1000 church members, gathered in Suva for the 2011 Annual Conference, were left stranded when permission to meet was withdrawn at the eleventh hour. According to Mr Bruce Mullan, Associate Director for the Pacific for the Uniting Church of Australia, who was the only foreign observer present to attend the meetings, frustrations ran high. Many had made long and expensive journeys to be part of the conference.

Methodist Deputy General Secretary Tevita Banivanua spoke of the pain that people experienced as a result of the cancellation.

"They have spent lots of money, lots of preparation, they have left their homes for them to go through this, and it's not an easy time for them," Mr Banivanua said.

Methodists represent one third of the population of Fiji and Rotuma.

In spite of the challenges, the Fiji Methodist Church remains determined to find a way to work with the Government without compromising its own values. In response to claims that there have been political overtones to some of the Methodist Church's actions in the past, Mr Mullan stated he had read the full agenda in English and that it contained nothing of any political nature whatsoever.

"I saw a Church that worked very hard with the Government to get approval to hold its annual conference for the first time in more than three years," he said. "The agenda was fully approved. To have that overturned and thrown out at the last minute was a humiliation to them and the outcomes they had worked so hard to achieve."

The Church has been co-operative with regard to their activities and agenda and they are now being pressured to give in on the fundamental issue of autonomy over leadership decisions.

On what was to have been the last day of the Conference, a last-minute gathering of 57 Divisional Church Stewards endorsed the actions of President Tugaue and General Secretary Waqairatu in resisting pressure from the Government to step down from their positions.

One church insider is reported to have said, "Even if there is no Church Conference for ten years, they will still be the President and General Secretary. It's a victory, a moral victory."

Rev Bush said: "The Fiji Government has also been intimidating the Fiji Trade Union movement. It is very sad to see bodies that contribute to the well-being of people being treated this way."

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